What joystick/control pad do you use for your 2600?

[Andromeda Stardust]

It's been nearly a year and a half since I last posted in this thread back on the first page, and for as long as I've been playing Atari 2600 I've never felt entirely satisfied with any of the factory produced joysticks available for the system. To me Atari has always been about bringing the arcade experience home, and while the games have been great I never really felt like I was getting an arcade experience from the joystick options available. I tried the CX-40, the Flashback 2 rebuild of the CX-40, the Wico Command Control, Competition Pro, Suncom TAC-2 and just about every other popular Atari 2600 joystick option out there, but to me they all came up lacking in one way or another. For a long time I was pretty satisfied with swapping between the Wico Command Control and Competition Pro (depending on whether the game I was playing required 4-way or 8-way movement respectively) but I always wished I had one joystick that would be perfect for all the joystick controlled games on the Atari 2600 and really give me that arcade control experience.

 

So, after many years of dissatisfaction with the factory produced Atari 2600 joystick options I finally decided to build my own joystick that would give me an authentic arcade experience and control just the way I wanted it to. It took a little over a month to build and no small amount of help from some friends, but the end result was exactly what I had been looking for!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighing in at a hefty 7 pounds and measuring 15.75" long by 9" deep and 3" high, this is a controller that I can actually lay across my lap without having to squeeze my knees together. The ample amount of control panel real estate genuinely makes it feel like I have my hands resting on a proper arcade control panel when operating the joystick and button, and both the joystick and button are real arcade components that have had their performance perfectly tuned to my liking with a variety of custom parts.

The Atari 7800 Pro-Line Joystick may have been a bit of a design failure, but I couldn't be happier with my Atari 2600 Pro-Line Joystick.

 

 

Parts List

Hori Tekken 5: Tekken Tenth Anniversary Arcade Stick (PlayStation 2) housing

Black 1/16" thick plexiglass top cover laser cut & engraved by Tek-Innovations

Atari 2600 wiring harness assembly built by Kosmic Stardust

Sanwa JLF-TP-8Y-SK Joystick

Sanwa LB-30 N-S Black Bat Top w/ 6 mm to 10 mm thread adapter

Paradise Arcade Shop Light Gray Anodized Aluminum JLF Shaft Cover

Sanwa JLF-CD Dust Washer

Paradise Arcade Shop GT-O JLF Circle Restrictor Insert

Paradise Arcade Shop 0.5 mm Oversized JLF Actuator

Paradise Arcade Shop 1.5 lbf Custom JLF Spring

Industrias Lorenzo Black PSL-H Short Stem Pushbutton Barrel

Industrias Lorenzo Red PSL-H Concave Short Stem Pushbutton Plunger

Zippy 20g Ultra Light Touch Pushbutton Microswitch

 

 

Holy cow Jin, that stick of yours is sexxxy!

 

So glad I was able to assist you with the wiring.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Holy cow Jin, that stick of yours is sexxxy!

 

So glad I was able to assist you with the wiring.

Thank you Kosmic, I think it's a darn fine looking piece of hardware myself! It's definitely got that Vader style that I was going for, and you did an absolutely top notch job on the wiring. Your recommendation to use a 20g Zippy microswitch for the button instead of a 50g E-Switch worked fantastically too. That button is one serious speed machine!

[Asaki]

I've always loved the Slik Stik, and I still use them today.

 

However, now I have a pair of TAC-2s, and I think I might like them even more.

 

Our old CX-40 was always in terrible shape (I kind of chewed on it a lot), so I was never too terribly fond of it...the Flashback 2.0 joysticks are nice, but would have been even nicer if they were still rubber coated like the original.

[oyamafamily]

My controllers which I'm using to play Atari 2600 games via console.

 

 

Sega Master System is my controller which I bought at Super Play Games (center of Curitiba), on May 7th, 2016. In this date, I bought the 2600 Pac-Man original cartridge just to test my Atari 7800 Prosystem Console.

 

By the way, there's a bonus for the Second Round of the NEW 7800 High Score Club (Ninja Golf Contest). For those of you who have an Atari 7800 Prosystem Console, post a picture from the bottom of your original 7800 system which shows the SERIAL NUMBER (1 bonus point).

 

NINJA GOLF CONTEST: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/258168-new7800hsc-season-1-game-2-ninja-golf/

Edited October 19, 2016 by oyamafamily

[oyamafamily]

This prototype Supreme 78 is my go-to controller for most joystick games on either 2600 or 7800. Tied for second place are the venerable CX-40 and an Epyx 500 XJ.

For me, the Edladdin Super 78 controller is more confortable to play Atari 2600 / 7800 games. Very, very fun!!

Edited October 19, 2016 by oyamafamily

[Skippy B. Coyote]

For me, the Edladdin Super 78 controller is more confortable to play Atari 2600 / 7800 games. Very, very fun!!

Very nice controller Oyamafamily! How do you like playing with the joystick on the right side and the buttons on the left? I've always played games using an arcade stick on the left side and buttons on the right side so I'd imagine that it must take some getting used to having them switched around.

[hizzy]

Thank you Kosmic, I think it's a darn fine looking piece of hardware myself! It's definitely got that Vader style that I was going for, and you did an absolutely top notch job on the wiring. Your recommendation to use a 20g Zippy microswitch for the button instead of a 50g E-Switch worked fantastically too. That button is one serious speed machine!

 

Just curious to ask: Do you think it would have been advantageous in any way to install a female 9 pin connector on the back with a detachable cord?

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Just curious to ask: Do you think it would have been advantageous in any way to install a female 9 pin connector on the back with a detachable cord?

 

I suppose it could have been in the event that the plug that connects the controller to the system ever wears out, since that would make replacing the cable easier. But Kosmic Stardust did use an original Atari brand cable from an old CX-40 for the project, so I'm not worried about it's durability and I do like the clean factory produced look it has.

[oyamafamily]

Very nice controller Oyamafamily! How do you like playing with the joystick on the right side and the buttons on the left? I've always played games using an arcade stick on the left side and buttons on the right side so I'd imagine that it must take some getting used to having them switched around.

I'm already accustomed with my Edladdin joystick just because I'm a dexterous person.

Right hand to move and left hand to press fire buttons, as I'm currently doing when I play games on emulators with keyboard, and I did in the 1980s with Dactar Console (Atari 2600 Brazilian Version).

That's why I'm enjoying more my new joystick.

[Mad-Mike]

These are my primary Joysticks of choice......Suncom TAC-2 Totally Accurate Controller, these have grown on me, I bought 2 in boxes. I used to have a "BOSS" Joystick with the pistol grip years ago that was my favorite for a long time (I had to fabricate a bottom out of wood for it and drill holes in the top to make a working joystick out of it) - this has replaced that tenfold.

 

 

I have a "Sears" branded set of Paddle controllers I use as my primary set of paddles. I also have the original paddles from an old Heavy Sixer I had a long long time ago, but there is a problem with the super-rubbery DIN-9 cable end on it, and I aolso have a pair of cranky regular ol 4-switcher era paddles that I use for parts as the knob was missing on one and they have some wiring problems.

​I have thought about building my own big-arse Arcade Controller with the Paddle, Touchpads, Joystick, and Driving controllers built in - just to make life easier. But that's an undertaking for another day.

[edladdin]

Very nice controller Oyamafamily! How do you like playing with the joystick on the right side and the buttons on the left? I've always played games using an arcade stick on the left side and buttons on the right side so I'd imagine that it must take some getting used to having them switched around.

 

 

As a side note, while we have always offered the option to put stick and buttons on whichever side the client desires, his is the only one requested with stick on the right!

[Feralstorm]

I love the Suncom TAC-2 as well. They're getting harder to find on Ebay it seems.

[SnazzyCardigan]

I know my opinion on this matter maybe may not be a favourite one, but I like to use the rrectangular control pads that look similar to theNES pads, iit's just lacking the pause button

Edited October 26, 2016 by SnazzyCardigan

[ApolloBoy]

Most of the time I use my Slik Stik, other times a 6-button Genesis controller or modified NES controller.